Tate Myre – Football Player and Hero

Tate Myre.

The young man who was killed while trying to subdue an active shooter at his school – Oxford High School.

He was a football player.

I’m a mom of football players. Over the years, I’ve gotten to know a lot about football and the boys that play the game.

I didn’t always love football, in fact, in the beginning, I hated it. Okay, maybe hate is a strong word. Maybe, it’s more that I simply didn’t respect the sport or understand it. But now, I do.

Over the course of my first season as a “football mom”, I started to see football in a different light.

• Football taught me and my sons that bigger, faster, stronger has nothing over heart, mind, spirit and will.
• Football taught my sons to be protectors. Protect your quarterback. Protect your receivers, your running backs. Protect the team – On and off the field. (Not just physically, but their hearts and minds too.)
• Football taught my sons to trust their instincts with no fear. Making split second decisions to block, dive, tackle to help someone, to protect someone – even though it might hurt.

So, as a “football mom”, when I think of Tate Myre, these are the thoughts that are pressing on my heart and are on my mind:

• He was a football player.
• His heart, mind, spirit and will were stronger than his fear of a gun.
• He was a protector. He was protecting the “team” – in this case, his classmates, and teachers.
• He instinctively risked personal injury to save others.

He was a football player. And a whole lot more. He was a hero.

Please sign this petition to rename Oxford High School’s Wildcat Stadium, in Tate’s honor, to Tate Myre Stadium: https://www.change.org/p/oxford-high-school

#tatemyre #number42